‘I didn’t park dead straight,’ Harry grinned. How was he managing not to laugh?
She hadn’t known anyone’s eyes could get quite so wide. She hoped it hurt because the way he was looking at her suggested he thought her bonkers. He was probably right. Heat suffused her neck and up into her face. But control was so important. ‘No, you didn’t.’ And that had driven her crazy every time she’d brought clothes for the laundry basket out here. She glared at him. Please don’t say anything more.
Of course he did. It wouldn’t be the Harrison she was coming to know otherwise. ‘You never just drive in and stop?’
‘Every time.’ She had it down pat. Line up the right front corner of the bonnet with the edge of the cupboard on the back wall and voila. Perfect.
‘I’m getting it.’ His shoulders were heaving as he turned away.
‘You think?’ she asked too quickly.
Harrison came back to her and engulfed her hands in those warm, strong ones she still hadn’t got over thinking about. ‘I’m not laughing at you. I get that you need to have control over your life. What I don’t understand yet is why.’
When he was holding her hands as if she was special all her control disappeared, and she had to fight not to lean in against that expansive chest. He’d said yet. Did that mean he wanted to spend more time with her, get to know her a little? Hope flared. Have a fling with him. Now. Quick. That’d mean letting go the bonds she’d put around her libido. Huh? They were already snapping apart, one by one, as Harrison spent more time with her. Hard to pull her hands away when she wasn’t ready to let him go, but somehow she managed it. ‘It’s my way of keeping life on track.’
‘Sometimes it’s more fun going off track.’
‘Sometimes it’s downright dangerous.’
Harry stared at her for a long moment. ‘I hope not.’
He left her with the shattering sensation that he understood her, knew what made her tick better than she did. Now, that was dangerous.
* * *
‘Well, it’s fairly obvious Christmas is just around the corner,’ Sienna quipped as she walked into the paediatric ward on Wednesday, the large bag dragging from one hand. Staring around at the decorations, covering every available surface and then some, she laughed. ‘Has there been any work done in here?’
Julie, a junior doctor, joined her. ‘It’s a very serious matter, hanging Santas and coloured glass baubles, I assure you. The kids had a ball.’
‘Which has to be good for them. So who’s here at the moment?’
‘Felicity’s still around. She got a mild lung infection after that near-drowning but, being her, she’s up and about, refusing to let this setback hold her down.’
‘Has she got over her anger at missing out on the school trip?’ Fliss was one her favourite patients, not that she could ever admit that out loud, but any time the teen had problems she felt bad for her.
‘I think so, but check her out for yourself. Here she comes.’
Felicity was running down the ward, arms outstretched. ‘Doc Sienna, you’re back. Are you all right? I heard what happened. You look pale and wobbly. Shouldn’t you be sitting down?’
Sienna braced herself for impact, but Felicity skidded to a halt just short of a collision. ‘Hello to you, too.’
Fliss grinned. ‘It’s not the same around here without you.’
Water filled her eyes. Sniff. ‘Thought I was the dragon lady.’
Fliss’s cheeks were full of colour and her breathing only slightly laboured. Definitely ready to go home. ‘Everyone needs a dragon on their side. We were told you’d be away all week.’
Sienna winced. ‘I’ve only dropped in to see how everyone’s getting on.’ Her head still thumped intermittently and she didn’t want to push it when decisions about other people’s health were at stake. At the same time, staring at her four walls had been slowly driving her insane. The only reprieve had been when Harry dropped in to check up on her or bring a meal he always insisted on sharing. ‘And to hand these around. Come on, you can help me.’ The ward looked warm and inviting, the sterile white walls no longer glaring. It happened every December yet this was the first time she’d taken serious notice. ‘Did you have a hand in the decorating?’
‘I helped the little kids make paper chains.’ Fliss blushed. She didn’t like being seen as a softy by other teens or adults, but she could no more refuse a small child assistance than Sienna could refuse to treat a sick person. ‘Some of the chains weren’t very good but we put them up anyway.’
‘That’s what it’s all about.’ Her fingers itched to straighten the large cardboard star with uneven glitter hanging on the wall. Turning her back on it, she looked into the room opposite, not recognising any of the young patients. ‘Want to tell me everyone’s name as we go?’
The presents were a hit, and the ward was noisy with laughter and excited shouts. Sienna couldn’t stop smiling as warmth threatened to overwhelm her. What a simple thing to do, and yet the rewards were beyond measure.
‘Everyone’s happy,’ Felicity grinned.
‘It must be the Christmas spirit.’ Something she could do with a dose of at home. She would get a tree and decorations, and it would be a start to livening up her days. The list had come to a grinding halt, tossed in a drawer out of sight. Nothing more had been added, nothing at all completed and ticked off.
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Go away, Harry.
‘What do you think?’ grumped Aiden, fourteen, appendicitis, when she asked how he was feeling, the zing from getting a present gone.
‘Definitely ready to go home, I’d say,’ she said in an aside to Julie.
‘Much to everyone’s relief,’ the intern smiled. ‘Teenagers.’
Toby, ten, another appendectomy. ‘Mum’s coming to get me after lunch. I can’t wait to go back to school.’
‘Not this week,’ Sienna smiled.
His face fell. ‘It’s boring at home.’
She couldn’t argue with that, so she didn’t try. ‘Haven’t you got some games to play on your computer?’
‘Mum’ll make me read books.’
‘That’s really terrible,’ she laughed. What was wrong with her? She never said things like that, always encouraged the kids to read and study and not sit around staring vacantly at their electronic toys.
Julie was looking at her as if she was a stranger. Maybe she was. That accident had rattled her. But changed her? Who knew? ‘Right. Who else have we got I need to be introduced to?’
Less than two hours later Sienna hated to admit defeat. She was shattered. Every one of those bruises was protesting, her rib cartilage had a lot to say, and her head was spinning, making it hard to stay upright. ‘I’m going home,’ she told the staff.
‘I’ll walk you down.’ Dale appeared at her side. ‘I need a word with you.’
His tone sounded ominous but when they reached the ground floor all Dale said was, ‘Go home and do something for yourself for a change, Sienna. You were beyond exhausted before this accident. It’s time to rest and relax, get some energy back. You’re not pretty when dragging your butt like you’re carrying all the responsibility for the ward.’
‘I don’t need to be pretty to do my job.’
‘Make the most of this time out. Come back refreshed.’ Then he was gone, striding back to the lifts.
Sienna stared after the man she’d always believed to be a pushover. When had Dale turned bossy? Another dictatorial man in her life. Two in a week was two too many. The only difference being that she had to keep onside with her boss, whereas Harrison she could and did ignore.
* * *
The taxi driver had to wake Sienna outside her apartment. Embarrassed, she clambered out, spilling the contents of her handbag on the road edge, gathering everything up before finally handing him the fare. How had she fallen
asleep after Dale’s bombshell? Inside she opened windows to let the breeze cool the humid air and found her list to scrawl more ideas that she wouldn’t ever act on. Next she headed for the bedroom to fall on top without removing her shoes, already asleep as her head hit the pillow despite the stab of pain from her ribs.
She woke hours later to a delicious smell wafting into her room, and went out to find Harry taking a dish of macaroni and cheese out of her oven. ‘Oh, boy, that smells delish.’
‘Not bad, eh?’
‘You don’t do coy, do you?’